


You Always Said How You Loved Dogs

by Artistic_Alex



Category: Detroit: Become Human
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Tragedy, Animal Death, Connor Deserves Happiness, First Person, Flashbacks/Memories, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hopeful Ending, Loss, Poor Connor, Poor Hank, Post canon, Post-Peaceful Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), Protective Connor, Unreliable Narrator, rest in peace sumo, third person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-15 16:50:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19299802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artistic_Alex/pseuds/Artistic_Alex
Summary: Sumo is nine.Saint Bernard life spans are eight to ten years.It’s time for him to go.





	1. I Dont Know If I Count but I’m Trying My Best

**Author's Note:**

> Saint Bernard sits at the top of the driveway, you always said how you loved dogs. 
> 
> I don’t know if I count but I’m trying my best when I’m howling and barking these songs.
> 
> https://youtu.be/AGeLUXNl--0

|July 2040|

My name is Sumo. I’m a Saint Bernard and I live with an android, a human, and another dog.

 

I wasn’t always as well cared for as I am now, but I used to be.

 

As a puppy I remember a little boy running around the house. Playing with me, walking me, cuddling me. The boy and the old man loved me very much, showering me with affection and lots of treats. The boy even slipping forbidden food to me when the older man wasn’t looking.

 

I remember the little boy causing all kinds of mischief, once covering me and himself in paint and having me help decorate the house. I remember the older man trying to be upset about it but laughing in the end as the child helped clean it up.

 

I remember the little boy falling once while the older man was outside taking a phone call, something urgent. The boy was crying, so I licked the wound and consoled the boy until the older man came back to help.

 

I remember comforting him during nightmares or when he got scared of the thunder outside.

 

I remember caring for them both with all my heart. I had many great memories of my family,

 

I had loved my owners. I remember everything about them.

 

But...

 

I also remember the day the little boy didn’t come home.

 

He and the old man were gone a long time, I was sure. I waited for what felt like days for them to come home. I missed them very much.

 

When the old man came back he was different.

 

The older man no longer pet me or minded me. He would come home and hide, in his room or his hands over his face.

 

I always tried to console the man.

 

Maybe the little boy could help?

 

I would sit at his door, scratching and howling to get him to come out, to help the older man.

 

...But the little boy never did.

 

I sat at the door of the boys room day in and day out.

 

The child never came out. The older man never went in that room. The door remained locked, no noise, no mischief, no treats, no cuddles.

 

Just an empty room.

 

I watched the older man begin to hurt himself. I never understood what he was truly doing, only knowing he was sad, sad like I was when waiting for the little boy to come home.

 

I tried to comfort the older man, hardly achieving anything.

 

Night after night I watched the older man hurt himself with a horrid smelling drink, but then…

 

Someone new came into the older man’s life.

 

An android.

 

He was energetic and trying to help the man, and I adored him. He had done what the little boy used to do. He made the older man happy again.

 

Slowly the older man stopped hurting himself, and eventually the android stayed at the home with us.

 

The android took me on walks and cuddled with me, and I consoled the android when he was sad, a common thing to happen the first few weeks the android had arrived, though I didn’t mind.

 

It was like that for awhile, the three of us.

 

Then came a fish, a small creature that I would observe from the android’s bed. The android told me not to eat the small creature and I reluctantly obeyed, instead choosing to watch over it, protecting the tank. The creature was important to the android, so it was important to me, too.

 

A little later another dog showed up. I had been worried I was being replaced but soon learned that the dog was like me, a friend, just faster and smaller. I liked the new friend.

 

I watched the puppy grow older, at least for a few months.

 

Then something changed.

 

I was tired a lot, it felt hard to walk, I didn’t like to move despite the pressure I received from the small dogs eagerness for me to play with her.

 

I couldn’t run or play anymore.

 

One day they took me to the vet and afterwards they became very upset, but not like before.

 

Last time the older man was this sad he shut him out, he never spoke of the little boy, but now it’s different. They spent a lot of time with me from then on. Much more than ever before. 

 

I’d wake up in the lap of the android, he’d hold me and cry some nights. I never knew why. I just knew I was tired and sometimes my body hurt a lot and that sometimes I couldn’t breathe. It felt like my body was falling apart.

 

But I wasn’t scared. My family was protecting me. My family was keeping me safe. My family loved me.

 

And they were the last thing I saw as everything faded to black.

 

*****

 

Hank couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

 

His dog had cancer and somehow he didn’t notice the symptoms sooner.

 

_Hemangiosarcoma_

 

It was too far along for them to do anything now. All that was left now was...

 

“Im afraid he’s got very little time left. If the pain gets any worse, we provide the option to.. Put him down. He’ll go to sleep peacefully, he won’t have to hurt anymore Mr. Anderson.”  

 

Hank shook his head.

 

He couldn’t just do that. He couldn’t just kill his dog.

 

“There’s nothing you can do? Surgery, medicine, anything?”

 

The woman lowered her head. “I’m sorry, I wish I had better news but I don’t.”

 

“I’m not gonna bring my dog to a fucking vet to have him die on the table, no, no! Fuck that!”

 

She looks to her clipboard, only slightly fazed by his small outburst.

 

“There isn’t much we can do but… We could let you do this in your home. I understand watching an animal die in a place meant to help them is hard… But we provide a shot, a dose high enough to slowly put the animal to sleep. He could pass in your home. It’s not ideal but it’s better than here, I think you can agree.”

 

Hank ran a hair through his tangled hair, shaking his head.

 

“I-“ he hesitates.

 

_How is he going to tell Connor?_

 

“I’ll think about it..”

 

The vet gives him a smile, putting her hand lightly on his shoulder. “Take as much time as you need.”

 

*****

 

Hank picked up Sumo, struggling to get the one-hundred fifty pound dog into the house and setting him on his bed.

 

“I’m home!” He yells out as Adira pads over, laying next to the large Saint Bernard. Connor walks out, looking like a mess, hair curled into a nest on his head and shirt covered in god knows what hanging limply off his shoulder.

 

“Lieutenant- you’re home. How is he? Is he okay? Is he sick?”

 

_He won’t be alive for much longer._

 

“-I’ve been researching all different techniques that are one-hundred percent natural remedies to help sick canines. I could tell you about some and we can put some into motion now if you’d like?”

 

Hank sighs, his chest feeling almost as if it was being forcefully compressed. Connors led visibly shifts from yellow to red in his peripheral as he turns his head.

 

“Is something the matter, Lieutenant?”

 

Hank lowers himself to the couch and moves his messy hair from his face, reluctantly looking up to the expecting android.

 

“Connor…”

 

**_Yellow._ **

 

**_Red._ **

 

**_Yellow._ **

 

**_Red._ **

 

**_Red._ **

 

“We need to talk.”

 

*****

 

Connor held Sumo close to him, sitting in his bed, focusing all of his power on Sumos breathing and how labored it had become the past few days.

 

Each breathe felt like a tiny crack forming in his thirium pump.

 

He wasn’t ready to lose Sumo but he didn’t have a choice.

 

Organic life didn’t live or die on anyone’s control. Dying was a part of nature. Connor knew this, and Connor hated it. He hated it so much. He couldn’t stop what happened, no one could. Whatever happened, happened. And now he was going to die.

 

He hugs the dog closer, hiding his face in the old dogs fur.

 

*****

 

Sumos pain got worse. He no longer moved at all, residing in his usual corner. He hasn’t eaten or used the bathroom no matter how hard his owners coaxed him to.

 

“Connor… I think it might be time..” Hank said as he watched the dog lay in the same spot for the thirteenth hour in a row now.

 

*****

 

Connor didn’t talk to anyone for awhile. He ignored everyone at work and did the bare minimum in everything he did.

 

Eventually a package arrived at the home from the vets office.

 

Connor wanted to hide it, break it, do anything. He wasn’t ready to let go but…

 

The dog was in pain. So much pain. He couldn’t be selfish. But…

 

“Hank… The package is here.”

 

Hank looked up from the dinner he had been picking at, Adira wagging her tail slightly as he stepped inside with the box in his hands.

 

They looked over to Sumo, Hanks eyes glossing as they did.

 

*****

 

Connor loads the syringe with the high dose of pentobarbital before looking to Hank, whose hands were too shaky to do it himself.

 

Hank reaches out and rubs behind the old dogs ear, he barely reacted to the touch, almost in a daze, his breaths sounding like snores even though he was awake.

 

“I- uh…” Hank cleared his throat.

 

“I know I wasn’t the best owner, especially after Cole… Ya know… And I’m sorry it has to end like this buddy. You deserved so much better. A much longer life, a better one.” He lightly rubs over the dogs closed eye. “And, I hope you see Cole when you go wherever you're going. God knows you’ve waited long enough to see him again, you’ve helped me grieve him so much, Sumo. You deserve an afterlife with him.”

 

Hank gives a sad smile. “Anything you’d like to say Connor?”

 

Connor shook his head. It didn’t feel right, he opted to remain quiet instead.

 

“Kid..”

 

Connor looked up, not wanting to meet his eyes. “I’m okay, Hank.”

 

Hank nods as Connor checks to be sure the syringe is working, looking to Sumo one last time.

 

*****

 

“You were a good boy Sumo. I know we didn’t get a lot of time together but you and Adira were my best friends. It won’t be the same without you.”

 

Connor watches as Sumos eyes slowly began to fade, almost as if life was leaving him physically, like it was just separating from him, a heartbreaking sight to see.

 

Then his eyes close, the labored breathing finally stops.

 

Connor places a hand onto the dogs chest, a lump tearing his throat apart like a dagger, the urge to cry hardly able to be compressed. 

 

“Goodbye, Sumo.”

 


	2. When I’m Howling and Barking These Songs

He’s out there again.

 

Hank watched from the kitchen window as water drenched the android sitting in the mud.

 

He didn’t cry, he didn’t say anything, he’d just sit there, never moving, the only moving part of him was his circling red led.

 

After a week of this Hank had enough of watching the poor android sit out like that. 

 

Tonight it was pouring rain, he had looked in the garage and the bathroom and the android was nowhere to be found in the house, he instead was outside in the rain, staring at the mound of dirt and handmade headstone in the middle of the night.

 

Again...

 

Hank grabbed an umbrella and moved to the side of the house where Sumos old dog house had once resided, cursing with every puddle he stepped in. Connor didn’t blink or even react as Hank stepped closer to him, holding the umbrella above the drenched android.

 

“Connor…” 

 

Hank stops, immediately realizing he didn’t know what to say. 

 

“Con.. I think you should come back inside.”

 

The android didn’t respond, he didn’t move, he continued to stare at the headstone, not breathing, not moving. He looked... Lifeless like this. It was unnerving to see him in such a state.

 

“Son, please, it cold and it’s raining fuckin’ buckets and it’s late. It’s what, three am now? Let’s go inside and watch a kids movie with Adira, yeah?”

 

Connor remained motionless once more. Hank realized this was getting nowhere.

 

He lets out a sigh as he kneels down and prepared to sit in the puddles of mud on the ground. If you can’t beat em, join em.

 

He sits with the android, holding the umbrella to cover Connor completely.

 

It’s silent for a few minutes as they grieve the dog. Hank can’t help but think of the good memories he had with the old Saint Bernard, a small smile on his face as he remembers the things him and Cole used to do together. Damn kid rode him like a horse, lord knows he was big enough to be mistaken for one.

 

“Did I tell you about the time Sumo jumped up and knocked a pot of food that was cooking off the stove while I was helping Cole clean his room?”

 

Hank smiles as he thinks back.

 

He had been cooking sloppy joes, the meat done but warming up with the can of manwich he put in it. Dinner was almost done, the mac and cheese completely finished and in a pot next to the meat with sauce on low heat to sizzle.

 

Hank had been helping Cole clean his room, he had played a game where he would reenact an entire story but switch his clothes to be each character. This often lead to shirts, pants, and random costumes laying on the boys floor.

 

He wasn’t sure how he or his son hadn’t heard it but when he came out he saw the pots on the ground, food everywhere, and a very happy Saint Bernard eating the macaroni and seasoned hamburger meat off the floor, stove still on next to him.

 

Cole thought it was funny, praising the dog while Hank censored himself as he scolded the dog, turning off the stove and grabbing what he needed to start cleaning up.

 

They ended up ordering pizza that night and eating in the living room instead, watching a movie.

 

Hank didn’t miss Cole throwing his pepperonis to the sulking Saint Bernard behind the couch. He chose not comment on it, letting the boy feel like he was sneaky enough to get away with it.

 

He tells the story as best he can remember, laughing, and giving all kinds of hand gestures.

 

He hasn’t been able to talk about Cole in a positive way in a long time. It was nice to tell stories about his boy.

 

Hank smiled when he finally heard the android let out a small laugh for the first time in over a month. 

 

“If you think that’s bad there was this one time Cole got this new toy, like a mini android basically, and Sumo didn’t like it because all of the kids attention went to that instead of him. One day I left the door open to air out after I burnt some shit in the house. Cole got up to go to the bathroom and left the toy on the couch. Sumo decides to grab it, run out the front door and bury it in the front yard. Cole went ballistic. Took forever to find that thing.”

 

Hank chuckles, 

 

“Cole forgave him though, he could never stay mad at that bastard, he was up and playing with him the very next day.”

 

Connor finally looks up, the smile slowly leaving his face.

 

“I wish I had gotten to know Cole. I had just barely gotten to know Sumo and this whole thing just hurts…”

 

His eyes met Hanks, they look sad and lost.

 

“I can’t imagine the day I lose you, Hank. I don’t get to depend on the idea of an afterlife meeting like you do.”

 

Hank swallows thickly, completely unsure of how to respond. 

 

“I can’t even imagine what it felt like to lose Cole if I’m this hurt over a dog that wasn’t ever mine to begin with…” 

 

Connor let’s out a low laugh, one meant only to hurt himself, he’s heard it before. The fake laughs you give to distract from the heavy conversation that’s about to happen.

 

“Connor… I’m not going anywhere for a long time. Sumo was old, and you can’t stop nature… I will die someday, and I’m sorry about that but… I hope we can make our time together worth it, son.”

 

Connor nods, eyes shifting back to the ground. 

 

“And Sumo was your dog too, fucker loved you more than anyone. You know that.” Hank adds, giving a light shoulder bump to the android next to him.

 

“I suppose you’re right…” 

 

Hank laughs as he sets a hand on Connors shoulder.

 

“It’ll be alright, son. Just remember, he’s in a better place now, wherever that is.”

 

Connor closes his eyes and sighs.

 

“He’s in a better place.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Felt like you guys deserved some comfort.
> 
> Everyone dies eventually, it’s envitable, but death isn’t what life is, it’s not what you’re meant to focus on. If we all dwelled on the ones we lost rather than living we’d be dead in our own way.
> 
> So, if anyone is mourning or missing someone you’ve lost, just remember the good times from when they were alive rather then the bad times you felt after they were gone. <3

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry, Sumo...


End file.
